Has anyone stayed at both POP and POFQ? The resort maps on TP looks very similar to each other in terms of layout and size. Can anyone confirm?
I’m looking for a hotel that has great bus service to the parks, a nice relaxing atmosphere for non-park time, close proximity to breakfast, and a great pool for the kiddo is a bonus!!
(I haven’t taken my 2016 trip and I’m already planning 2017!)
Pop is WAY bigger than POFQ. It’s a huge resort. We stayed in 70’s which is fairly close to the main building, if you get stuck in one of the far out buildings you’re in for a heck of a walk. POFQ is much more compact. So much so that there is no preferred category as most buildings and rooms are pretty close to the main building so you only choose from standard, pool, river, or king bed categories.
Plus you get queen size beds instead of those twin sized concrete slabs they have at pop lol.
We’ve stayed at and enjoyed both. POFQ is much smaller than Pop. If you can swing the higher price for POFQ, I’d recommend it. The rooms are bigger, the beds are bigger and more comfortable, the resort is much more intimate. You can pool hop and walk (or boat) between French Quarter and Riverside, and the best part, the boat to Disney Springs!
How do the buses at POFQ compare to POP? And, what about the pool? Is it 6 year old enjoyable? The pool at POP is a bit blah - but she doesn’t complain! 
The buses are POFQ are great. They rarely share with POR unless it’s really slow but even then it’s not a major issue. The pool is great it has the added benefit of a water slide and if you get bored with it you have hopping privileges to use the one at Riverside as well. I also find the pools a lot less crowded than the crazy mass of people at the Hippy Dippy pool at Pop.
Of course at 6 a pool is a pool usually lol. As a grown up though you also get access to hot tubs at the mods.
We barely saw anyone at the Hippy Dippy pool last year. And never anyone at the computer pool. But, of course, we are in the parks ALL DAY long too!! I will keep all of this in mind. The cost difference for some weeks I am looking at is $325-$580 difference for the week - so not terrible at all if you break it down per day.
Are there any other mods that I should be looking at?
The pool at POFQ is pretty nice - probably one of my favorites to swim with my son when he was younger. OK slide that’s themed well (King Neptune riding a Sea Dragon), lots of Jazz Gators to add some character and some water shower locations that can be fun. Plus there’s a bridge over one spot of the pool allowing you to hang out in the shade under the bridge which almost feels like it offers some privacy. It’s a pool with some interesting features at least. You can also swim at POR if you want for a change of pace, although we preferred the FQ pool. If swimming with your kid it’s one of my favorites that we’ve stayed at…
The POFQ pool has a new splash area for kids now too! I’m dying to check it out in two weeks!
If you weren’t staying with kids I would suggest CBR business class but it sounds like you wouldn’t get a ton of use out of it. To me all mods are pretty equal. For me POFQ gets a huge advantage over the others because of it’s compact size.
Truthfully though we prefer deluxe. If you aren’t going on a holiday or race weekend you an usually get AKL or OKW for the same price you’d pay for a mod by renting points. And there is nothing like staying at AKL lol.
You might check with MVT also. Because we couldn’t get a points rental we’re at POFQ for 10 days and we’re paying around $150 a day because they had a group rate going.
I like compact size!! The walk from the computer pool to the bus stop at POP was brutal last year. This year we are staying preferred and I’m requesting building 4.
I would probably prefer deluxe too.
I’ll check MVT and start some comparison shopping in conjunction with looking into renting.
I have not stayed at POFQ but just stayed at Pop and that place is humongous. If you choose Pop, definitely get a preferred room. It felt like we were six miles away from Classic Hall in the 90s building.
Bus at Pop was great, no complaints.
Pop is NOT relaxing.
The pool at Pop seemed pretty cool, but we did not use it.
Breakfast was many miles away or so it seemed, and I wasn’t that impressed by it.
@Outer1 which deluxes have you stayed at with points? which is your favorite deluxe? I’m shocked at how low the prices are!!
For me its Animal Kingdom Lodge all the way! It’s so amazing inside. It’s darker so some people don’t like that but I think it’s relaxing. The bed was super comfortable and it’s so awesome to sit on the balcony and watch the animals or watch the sunrise. It’s also quiet. We never heard a peep from the hallway or our neighbors. Just ask @OBNurseNH lol
Having said that Beach Club is also really nice with the amazing pool and walking access to Epcot. Old Key West has some of the biggest rooms on property and a boat to Disney Springs.
And of course Poly and Contemporary are very popular although personally they aren’t my favorite resorts.
A few key points when renting though, usually once you’re booked you’re booked the cancellation and change policies are very strict. DVC Rental Store is who we use and if you are concerned they do sell an insurance policy to help with that. We have to book our trips well in advance and there is no wiggle room for us to change so it’s not really a problem for us. Also you don’t get daily housekeeping. They empty the trash and refresh your towels on day 4 and if you stay 7 they do a full room clean that day. We usually have the do not disturb sign up anyways so again not a problem for us. Lastly it requires a little patience. The brokers work with existing DVC members to fill rental requests but until the room is booked you kind of sit out there floating lol. Sometimes you get it in a day and sometimes (Like this trip for us) you wait two months and the inventory runs out before you get a rental. We had trouble this time though because we’re going during the Wine and DIne half marathon weekend, plus the tail end of food and wine.
There really is no comparison between the deluxe resorts and the values / mods. It’s a world of difference lol.
POFQ and POP are both great but the comparison is apples to oranges as they are in totally different categories. Also, in my opinion, POFQ is one of the nicest resorts on property and certainly the best moderate. My opinion.
Have you ever rented points/stayed Deluxe?
Swoon…
Jumping in with a small tangent…
The thing that stops me from going the points rental route is the beds. As far as I can tell, all the studios are one bed plus a sofa bed, except at OKW, and anything with two real beds is way more expensive than booking a moderate.
Is that right? I see everyone raving about the point rental option but I can’t see making anyone in our family sleep on a pull out for a week. One of the reasons we’re booking mod over value is sleep quality.
I guess it depends on the quality of the sofa bed. We had 1 in Puerto Rico that was a dream to sleep on!
@Outer1 - can you give us your opinion on the pull out sofa bed? @OBNurseNH ??
Have never slept in a sofa bed at WDW.